Topic: Arbitrator challenges

A Spanish electricity company has failed to disqualify German arbitrator Inka Hanefeld from chairing an ICSID claim against Argentina over her failure to disclose having sat on another panel with the state’s expert.

12 September 2022

Chinese state-owned energy company Sinopec has won a US$64 million award against Ecuador’s national oil company over three Amazonian projects, a case that saw Quinn Emanuel partner David Orta disqualified as arbitrator because of his ties to the claimant’s counsel.

10 August 2022

A Brazilian court has upheld an ICC award in an acrimonious dispute over the multibillion-dollar sale of a pulp producer, dismissing allegations the procedure was tainted by a cyberattack and a conflict of interests and awarding US$114 million in legal fees to the winning side.

04 August 2022

Russia has failed to disqualify a tribunal hearing a Crimea-related treaty claim that refused to grant a six-month stay after the state’s counsel resigned, despite its argument that no new “reputable or experienced” representatives were immediately available.

22 July 2022

A Brazil v Rest of the World football match organised as part of the ICCA Congress in Rio de Janeiro over a decade ago has been cited as part of a failed bid to annul an award in a €70 million ICC dispute, after it was argued that Italian arbitrator Stefano Azzali should have disclosed he played in the game alongside one of the lead counsel.

22 June 2022

Following arbitrator Kevin Kim’s resignation from an ICSID annulment committee hearing Venezuela’s bid to overturn a US$9 billion award in favour of ConocoPhillips, the state has challenged two more panel members on the basis that they were “corrupted” by his actions.

21 June 2022

Spain has challenged an ICSID tribunal hearing one of the many renewables-related claims it is facing, arguing the arbitrators have shown bias through a series of procedural decisions.

20 May 2022

Ukraine has failed to disqualify Stanimir Alexandrov from an ICSID tribunal based on his “incomplete and piecemeal” disclosure, including about his relationship with expert witness firm Compass Lexecon.

19 April 2022

Argentina has failed in a bid to disqualify the entire tribunal hearing a two-decade-old ICSID claim brought by US energy company AES Corporation.

08 April 2022

The Swiss Arbitration Centre has refused to disqualify an arbitrator because of views he expressed in an academic article about advances on costs – while suggesting that arbitrators should think twice about publishing on “potentially sensitive issues” while they have cases pending.

07 March 2022